TAUNTON — Neither the leading local proponent nor opponent of the East Taunton resort casino project being proposed by the Mashpee Wampanoag would be shocked if the tribe shifted gears and pursued a state commercial license.

“I think the state would be happy to take the $85 million (commercial application) fee,” said Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr., who says the tribe recently has been considering and exploring “all options” — including a commercial venture that would not require 321 acres in Taunton and Mashpee being designated by the federal government as sovereign, reservation land.

Construction of the Region C resort casino ground to a halt in 2016, after a U.S. District Court in Boston sided with 25 plaintiffs challenging the U.S. Interior Department’s 2015 decision placing 151 acres near the Liberty & Union Industrial Park and 170 acres in their namesake Mashpee in trust.

The Mashpee Wampanoag’s application for land in trust dates back to 2007, the same year the federal government officially recognized it as an Indian tribe.

The tribe’s application to the Interior Department requested that the government acquire the Taunton land for a “gaming facility and resort” and the Mashpee land for “tribal governmental, cultural and conservation purposes.”

Michelle Littlefield, lead plaintiff in the case against the Interior Department’s land-in trust decision, said it’s plausible the tribe might pursue a commercial license — if a decision expected to be handed down on Oct. 30 by the Interior Department finds that the tribe does not qualify for land in trust.

“As long as they aren’t expecting a free pass from the state (and agree to pay the $85 million application fee), then more power to them,” Littlefield said.

“My personal issue is that there be local and state oversight, whether it’s a casino or ice cream parlor,” she added.

Tribal chairman Cedric Cromwell in a previous statement referred to Littlefield and her co-plaintiffs as “a group of anti-Indian East Taunton residents,” an accusation that Littlefield strongly rejects.

Littlefield said if the tribe does apply for a commercial license they shouldn’t expect a slam-dunk approval from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

“I still don’t appreciate having a casino 300 feet away from East Taunton Elementary School,” which she said is the distance “driveway to driveway” from the school to the proposed casino.

Two gaming commissioners, Littlefield said, previously cited the close proximity to Brockton High School as a reason in 2016 to reject a proposal by a commercial group for a resort casino in that city.

“I have a feeling they (the Gaming Commission) won’t approve (a commercial application in Taunton,” she said.

The Mashpee Wampanoag is being backed financially by Genting Group of Malaysia, which, according to the company’s website, by 2016 had invested nearly $250 million in interest bearing promissory notes issued by the tribe.

That same online press release states that its Genting Malaysia unit had been appointed, as part of a seven-year-deal, to manage the tribe’s First Light Resort & Casino.

Genting Group recently invested $400 million to expand its Resorts World Casino in Queens, N.Y., which opened in 2011. The company also has casino projects in Florida and the Bahamas.

The total, anticipated investment in the Taunton project previously has been described by Genting and the tribe as being as much as $1 billion.

A message left seeking comment from the tribe’s spokesman was not returned.

Taunton and the Mashpee Wampanoag have an inter-governmental agreement guaranteeing the city at least $8 million a year, in lieu of taxes, once the casino opens for business.

But Hoye said the true monetary value would be closer to $14 million when, as per the agreement, the tribe provides funding to hire 20 police officers and 20 firefighters.

Hoye said he keeps in close contact with Cromwell: “We speak all the time,” he said.

The resort casino, according to the tribe, with its three hotels, restaurants and retail stores, would create several hundred construction jobs and more than 2,500 permanent full- and part-time jobs.

The mayor said the sooner the casino opens the better it will be for the Silver City Galleria mall, located less than a mile a away on the other side of Route 140.

“I know the mall is anxious to get it going,” Hoye said. “Every time there’s a roadblock the phone calls stop from prospective tenants.”

Hoye said if the tribe pursues a commercial license it likely would mean that another referendum vote would be held.

But he says based on the overwhelming approval by Taunton voters the first time around the results would be similarly supportive.

Massachusetts Gaming Commission spokesperson Elaine Driscoll sent an email in response to a request for a comment.

“The Commission remains open to innovative ideas from commercial and tribal developers alike regarding the establishment of a destination-resort casino in Southeastern Mass.,” Driscoll wrote.

“We are hopeful there will soon be some clarity to resolve the long-standing uncertainty that continues to shape the Commission’s deliberations on this matter and our ability to determine how best to proceed,” she said.

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